Reese Wilkerson
Reese, (played by Justin Berfield) is the second oldest of Lois and Hal's children. A born troublemaker and proud of it, Reese isn't afraid to do whatever springs to mind at the drop of a hat regardless of how a bad idea it is, something which he credits to the crazy voice he and all his brothers share. He gets into more trouble than either Dewey or Malcolm and was the biggest bully during middle school—something which the students were actually grateful for since his being a bully stopped an uprising of hundreds of others trying to take his place. Though his grades don't show it, Reese is just as much a genius as his two younger brothers. He purposely got a perfect zero on every one of his final school exams, a feat which is just as difficult to accomplish as a perfect one hundred. He has also proven to be a very skilled cook, shown when he prepares an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family. He also seems to be quite good at coming up with plans. An example is when he wanted to see Cynthia's boobs so he planned a 3 month plan that almost worked because cynthia was falling for him. In the series finale he becomes the head janitor for his old high school, after the previous one was fired when the school found peepholes in the girls' shower. As soon as he got the job he left home on his mother's demands and now lives with Craig. Personality and Traits Reese appears to be the least intelligent and most destructive, although at some times, he shows even more intelligence than Malcolm when devising fiendish plans. He also has scored high on tests, when he set his mind to it, and had nothing to do but study, as shown in the episode in which he is kicked out and is alone, in which he is referred to as the "most improved student ever seen" by his teacher. Reese is often too tied up in violence and laziness do so much as try to learn, and appears to have immense problems focusing. He even appears to have had a mean streak in the womb; while Lois was in labor, he kicked her so hard that she delivered him prematurely; immediately following which he kicked the doctor in the nose. His obsession with violence horrifies the family and leaves him with few friends, partly as he is a bully at school. He bullies the "Krelboynes" in Malcolm's class, (except Stevie who, because of being paraplegic, is "off limits" except in certain situations), as well as his younger brothers, especially Dewey. Reese is often seen exercising to build his muscles, and, in one incident, almost killed himself when a barbell proved to heavy for him to lift, causing it to fall down towards his neck and practically choke him to death. Reese has saved the family on some ocassion's. Like when he beat up a thug who came in their house, Or when he saved Malcolm and Dewey in the tiger cage by throwing a goat in it. During his teen years, Reese ran off to join the US military under a faked name and forged age (he was underage at the time) without telling his family where he had gone, possibly heartbroken when Beth cheated on him with Malcolm. He was successful in completing Basic Training and was praised as one of the most brilliant soldiers in his platoon after he learned to "turn his brain off" and surrender his will to his superiors. After being sent to Afghanistan in combat conditions, Reese struggles to stay alive and in the process winds up unwillingly marrying an Arab man. When his mother, Lois, catches wind of what Reese has done, she tracks him down in Afghanistan and personally brings him home without objection from the military since Reese was now found to be underage. Despite Reese's outwardly unintelligent facade, he discovered a gift for cooking in his early teen years. He is gifted at gourmet cooking and enjoys it; the only effective way his parents can find to punish him is banning him from the kitchen. He finds success in a meat-packing job, but is fired after setting all the cows free (trying to impress a girl). In his later teen years, Reese marries an attractive immigrant girl who requires the marriage to stay in the U.S. Reese truly cares for her, and she claims to care about him, despite her dominating personality and refusal to have sex. However, the marriage falls apart when Reese and Lois discover her sleeping with another man inside the couple's "garage apartment" (Which is Reese's parent's garage). Added to the fact that Reese miserably failed the immigration test to keep his wife in the country (going as far as writing that she had a tail), the character is never heard from again and presumably deported. Reese is very much poor, because his parents have no plan's for his future just as Francis, who as far as they know is already living in it. Reese is depicted as a virgin with limited sexual experience. In the penultimate episode, "Morp", a girl named Jeanie offers to pay Reese to take her to the senior prom because she had been too focused on getting into college to cultivate a social life and find a date by normal means. Jeanie says that she initially selected Reese because he is not "completely hideous" and she knew he would not have a date. However, Reese turns out to be a gentleman and sweeps her off her feet by being charming and considerate. Although Jeanie did not initially plan to do anything with Reese after the prom itself, she invites him to go to the beach with her and tells him that, "I really want you". Before Reese can accept the invitation, his watch alarm goes off, indicating that he is "off the clock", and he leaves, revealing that he was only nice to "satisfy his customer" and thereby passing up a chance to finally have sex. After graduating high school, Reese moves in with Craig Feldspar and finds success as a janitor at his former high school. In a telephone conversation with Malcolm in the season finale, Reese says that when the principal found the peepholes in the bathroom, the head janitor was fired, and his job was given to Reese. Trivia *In Season 4's If Boys Were Girls, Reese despite being a unisex name, his female counterpart from Lois' fantasies was named Renee, played by Mimi Paley. She shares his lack of intelligence, but not his destructive nature and troublemaking ways. It was revealed near the end she was pregnant by a boy whom Mallory had a crush on and it causes a rift between the sisters. *Martin Spanjers, who had auditioned for the role of Malcolm, and Vincent Berry, for the role of Reese, appear in the Pilot Episode in secondary roles *Reese,s first line in Malcolm in the middle was "its mine" Category:Characters in Malcolm in the Middle Category:Characters